reception and accommodation, as to influence materially the turn of the discourse and the humour of the parties at their houses."

To these two literary gatherings, in process of time, a third was added. Mrs. Thrale's house at Streatham, in consequence of the celebrity of her distinguished guest, Dr. Johnson-who became an almost constant inmate-was much frequented; and if not so absolute as to fashion and taste, was fully as intellectual.

These three ladies, Mrs. Montagu, Mrs. Vesey, and Mrs. Thrale, were considered equal as arbiters of taste, and friends of genius. The first and the last are, however, the best known by their writings.

Mrs. Montagu, who had received all the advantages the most liberal education and ample fortune could command, wrote "An Essay on the Writings and Genius of Shakspeare," against the attacks of Voltaire, the French sceptical poet, who misunderstood and depreciated our national bard. So much has been written-finely and judiciously written - elucidating and commenting on Shakspeare, that in our days Mrs. Montagu's defence reads rather tame and laboured. It was, however, a good service that she rendered at a time when there was a far greater appreciation of artificial and superficial writings, than of the bard who unveiled the inmost recesses of the heart.

Mrs. Thrale, who had associated so much with Dr. Johnson that she might be considered his pupil, has left many evidences of her brilliancy and vivacity. Her poem "The Three Warnings," is as good a piece of serious pleasantry as any in the language; and her two volumes of "British Synonymes," without any pretension to learned method and systematic arrangement, supply most agreeably interesting, and often sparkling, essays on the nature and power of analogous words. The book was written to aid foreigners in obtaining a knowledge of the niceties of our language, and has the merit of being one of the liveliest books about mere words that we possess. Mrs. Thrale was accused as indeed learned every lady of that age was-of pedantry; but while her classic knowledge necessarily appears in reference to such a subject as the powers and limits, the conformities and contrasts, of English words, nothing can be more unaffected, and even playful, than the style. And while abler and more comprehensive works on synonymous words have superseded hers, the modern reader who looks into her volumes is repaid by the sprightly colloquial flow of the style, and the grace that adorns what otherwise would be a dry subject. She is chiefly known as a writer by the name of her second husband, Piozzi.

While these ladies had the merit, or good for

tune, to open their houses to the reception of literary visitors, particularly of their own sex, many who frequented their coterie became far more celebrated than themselves.

The studious and good Elizabeth Carter, the translator of Epictetus, sometimes appeared at these assemblies. However instructive her writings might be, her example as a diligent student is far more valuable to her country women. The daughter of a country clergyman at Deal, in Kent, whose family was numerous and income limited, she manifested no other talent in childhood than perseverance. Indeed it was so difficult for her to study, that her father dissuaded her from attempting anything more than the most ordinary routine of education. She was, however, resolved to share the liberal studies of her brothers and sisters, and she persevered with such success that she at length excelled them all, and became the most learned woman of her time. Her domestic qualities were admirable; in all the relationships of life she exhibited a happy union of Christian principle and affectionate disinterested

ness.

Elizabeth Carter was a great admirer of the writings of her own sex. She thought, and at that time very truly, they had not justice done them. Her biographer, the Rev. Montagu Pennington, says, "She was much induced to believe

that women had not their proper station in society, and that their mental powers were not rated sufficiently high. Though she detested the principles displayed in Mrs. Wolstoncroft's Rights of Woman,' and never wished them to interfere with the privileges and occupations of the other sex, yet she thought that men exercised too arbitrary a power over them, and considered them as too inferior to themselves. Hence she had a decided bias in favour of female writers, and always read their works with a mind prepared to be pleased, if the principles contained in them were good, and the personal characters of the authors amiable." Mrs. Elizabeth Carter contributed several papers to Dr. Johnson's “Rambler.” Her poems are excellent as didactic poetry, but they have little imaginative power, or warmth.

Mrs. Chapone was, also, to be seen at these assemblies. Her book, on "The Improvement of the Mind," a series of letters addressed to a beloved niece, still retains its place as a most useful aid to young females who are engaged in carrying on their own education, and anxious about the formation of their character.

Miss Fanny Burney, afterwards Madame D'Arblay, who had suddenly stepped into fame by writing a novel that sketched with a lively pencil the manners of society, was a frequent visitor in these literary gatherings, more particularly at

Mrs. Thrale's. It is to her quick observation and rapid pen that we are indebted for the best description of the female circle that surrounded Dr. Johnson. The fashionable novel, that professes to describe the tone of manners in polite society, was considered to arise with her; though, of all the class, this kind of fiction is generally the least instructive and interesting. It seems strange how any one can call such tedious descriptions of insipid people, and such dull dialogue, full of the cant of fashion-light reading. Leaden, indeed, must be the biography or the history that is heavier than these are generally. Though these charges appropriately apply only to Miss Burney's imitators.

Miss Hannah More was unquestionably the most remarkable person that these conversaziones served to introduce to the leaders in the literary world. She visited Mrs. Montagu in her early youth, when her powers were in all the bloom of novelty and the freshness of enthusiasm. She was admired for her genius, and then loved for her excellences. Her literary course is well known. Poems and imaginative productions yielded as years advanced to practical, educational, and devotional works. Often an invalid, she contrived to do a great deal of work, besides pay

* See Madame D'Arblay's Memoirs, edited by her